The British Library has a good web page listing the Tithe Maps that can be viewed online for various counties. These maps aren’t part of the British Library website, but are hosted by the local archives themselves.

Coverage of online maps is patchy at the moment, but it does seem as if they are becoming more popular as a project for county record offices and archives. I note that the wonderful Berkshire Record Office Enclosure Maps website isn’t included. I’m surprised at the omission as this is a site that has set the standard for others to follow, I’ve put a link below as I can recommend you take a look at the site even if you don’t have any Berkshire Ancestors.

Ancestry.co.uk of course have recently placed online the Tithe Maps & Documents for Dorset, perhaps more counties will follow, fingers crossed. Remember you can enjoy 14 days free access to the Ancestry website if you haven’t subscribed in the past. There is a link below.

Back on the British Library website there is a helpful Guide to Tithe Maps which is worth reading before you dive into these records. National Archives also have a great guide to Tithe Maps and also one on Enclosure Awards

Tithe Maps, Apportionment Papers, Enclosure Maps & Papers are an underused genealogy resource and are a joy to use. Go on – break your reliance on parish registers and census and see what Tithe & Enclosure maps & accompanying documents can tell you about your ancestors!!

Tithe Apportionments & Maps have been added to the Ancestry.co.uk Dorset Collection. Genealogy and maps go together wonderfully and tithe maps are excellent as the papers work that goes with them name the owners and the occupiers of the plots of land. There is a reference number so you can then refer to the maps and see where your ancestors lived or where they owned property.

Traditionally the local church and clergy were supported by a Tithe which means a tenth of anything produced when to the Church. For example if your crop of wheat yielded 20 bushels then you gave 2 bushels to the Church which could be used or sold to maintain the church property and give a wage to the local cleric. How they worked out if your pig had 8 piglets goodness only knows !

Even to this day there exists huge Tithe Barns where the produce was stored, the bigger the barn the wealthier the parish. Some of these barns are now in the care of the National Trust and can be visited. A good example is at Great Coxwell, which some of my ancestors helped to fill with wheat, corn and other crops. Below is a link to a webpage about the Great Coxwell barn including a slideshow so that you can get a feel for how big these barns were.

In 1836 it was decided that it would be much more efficient to replace payment in goods to payment in money and a commission was set up to work out how much each landowner should pay. Tithe maps were drawn up and the accompanying paperwork known as apportionments was written and these are the treasures that genealogist enjoy today.

The Apportionments generally give the land owners and land occupiers names, a description of the land, the name of the land if it has one, size of the holding and the monies due.

If you wish to know more about Tithe Maps & Apportionment Papers then The National Archives have a good webpage explaining all. There is a link below to the webpage.

If you don’t have a subscription to Ancestry.co.uk then you will be interested in their latest offer. Census are the back bone of 19th century family history so this is a really good opportunity. Free access to the 1911 census of course comes with terms and conditions, but they seem straight forward.

Free access from 00:00 on 13/8/12 until 23.59 on 2/11/12 (BST) to the 1911 Census Records and Summary Books for England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man. Registration is required for access by providing a name and email address.

So if you want to check out where your ancestors were in 1911. Go take a look.

Surrey Historic Records go online in 2013.

It’s amazing how the internet allows news, good & bad, to whizz round so quickly ! Thanks to Chris Paton & Kathryn Hughes on Twitter for the great news that the Bishop of Guildford has allowed Ancestry.co.uk to start to scan and put online the parish registers of Surrey. The Surrey History Centre has also entered into a partnership with Ancestry so that a wide range of Surrey records will be made available next year.

The Surrey History Centre has issued a statement that tells researchers that whilst the process of scanning the images is taking place some records each day will not be available. A phone call in advance of any visit would be advisable.

The records being scanned are

Church of England parish registers from 1538 (baptisms to 1912, marriages to 1937 and burials to 1987)

Land tax records 1780-1832

Electoral registers 1832-1945

Brookwood Hospital Woking, Registers of Admissions 1867-1906

Holloway Sanatorium, General Registers 1885-1904

Calendar of prisoners: Surrey Sessions and Assizes 1848-1902

Freeholders Lists 1696-1824

Licensed victuallers 1785-1903

Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment enlistment registers 1920-1946

Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment transfers in registers 1939-1947

Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment World War II Honours Indexes [1939]-1946

Great news if you have Surrey ancestors and remember that Surrey has Middlesex as one of it’s neighbours and that means that these records could of great help to those who have lost people in Middlesex/London.

Lancashire parish registers now online at Ancestry.co.uk. It is always exciting when I log onto Ancestry.co.uk and I see an announcement for a new set of records. Today it is the turn of Lancashire and Ancestry in partnership with Lancashire Archives have put online Lancashire parish registers.

The dataset comprises the following

Baptisms, Marriages & Burials 1538 – 1812

Baptisms 1813 – 1911

Marriages & Banns 1754 – 1936

Burials 1813 – 1986

Confirmations 1856 – 1922

The collection is of images from parish registers and these images have been indexed so you get the joy of seeing the original documents as if you were in the archives.

When I clicked on the announcement box I noticed that just below the blurb about the new release there was a range of videos about Parish Registers featuring Tony Robinson & Angela Crouch. They are more a promotion for Ancestry than a teaching aid and only last about a minute, but are interesting to look at if only for the background viewing of lovely old churches and churchyards.

About Me

History, particularly Family History is my passion. I have worked in libraries & archives, I teach family history, conduct workshops and give genealogy presentations. It seemed a shame to have all this knowledge & experience and not share it with others, so this website was born.